The UN General Assembly has agreed an additional target for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - the achievement of 'full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people’. From its formulation within the ILO, the decent work concept has been making steady progress through international bodies in recent years, and refers to a combination of employment quantity achieved through through job creation together with employment quality in terms of labour standards, social dialogue and social protection.

Over recent years, there has been some criticism of both the methodology and outcomes of the World Bank’s Doing Business Report. In particular, many commentators have questioned the way in which it appears to rank a country’s performance on labour standards only on the basis of the flexibility of the labour market and legislation, with no consideration of the quality of protections for workers and implementation of core ILO standards.

Ergon was contracted by the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) to produce desk-based scoping research on labour and social issues in global cotton cultivation. This work was presented to the BCI steering committee in late 2006.

Click here to download the study

Ergon recently wrote a background paper for the DFID Labour Standards and Poverty Reduction Forum, looking at the potential for public procurement agencies to address labour standards in value chains supplying the UK public sector. The paper identifies various practical possibilities for incorporating support for labour standards within public procurement.
To read the report, click here.